Sound Devices: 

• Alliteration: 

Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 

                 Whispering winds wove wondrous wonders.

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• Assonance: 

Definition: Repetition of vowel sounds. (Within or at the end of words.)

Example: I might like to take a flight to an island in the sky

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• Consonance

Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds. (Within or at the end of words.)

Example: A duck that clucked drove a truck into an aqueduct.

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• Onomatopoeia: 

Definition: Words that imitate sounds.

Example: BOOM! HISS! BUZZ! Clang! HONK! BAM 

Note: At the end of this page, you will find more onomatopoeia

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• Rhyme: 

Definition: The repetition of similar sounds, typically at the end of a verse line, creating musicality and rhythm in poetry.

• Rhyme Scheme: A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line in a poem or song, identified by using letters to represent similar sounds.

Example: 

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;                  a

Coral is far more read than her lips’ red;                       b

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;          a

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.          b

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• Rhythm: 

Definition: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

*The yellow highlighted parts of the poem show what's stressed.

Example: Shakespeare's sonnets 18

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? 

Shall I / compare / thee to / a Sum / mer's day?

◡   /         ◡    /       ◡    /      ◡   /       ◡    / 

Stressed and Unstressed Symbols:

Stressed = /

Unstressed = ◡

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• Blank Verse: 

Definition: Un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter .

Examples: William Shakespeare’s plays often use blank verse (e.g., Hamlet, Macbeth)

Blank Verse in Shakespeare's Hamlet

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes,

She married. O most wicked speed, to post

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

It is not nor it cannot come to good,

But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. 

◡   /         ◡    /       ◡    /      ◡   /       ◡    / 

*The yellow highlighted parts of the poem show what's stressed.

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• Free Verse: 

Definition: Poetry without consistent rhyme or meter.

Examples: 

T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats 

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• Enjambment: 

Definition: The continuation of a sentence from one line to another without a punctuation break. 

Examples: 

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee  

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,

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• Refrain: 

Definition: Repeated lines or phrases in a poem or song.

Example: From Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night. 

When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain it raineth every day.

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• Metaphor: 

Definition: A direct comparison between two unrelated things.

Example: "Time is a thief"

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• Simile: 

Definition: A comparison using "like" or "as".

Example: "Bright as the sun"

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• Personification: 

Definition: Giving human traits to non-human entities.

Example:

• "The sun smiled down on us."

• "The story jumped off the page."

• "The light danced on the surface of the water."

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• Hyperbole: 

Definition: Exaggeration for effect.

Example: 

1. “My love for you is deeper than the ocean” — Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

2. “Her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute” — Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. “My heart was pounding like a hammer” – Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

4. “I am so tired, I could sleep for a hundred years” — Sleeping Beauty by Grimm Brothers

5. “My love for you burns brighter than the sun” — Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

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• Symbolism: 

Definition: Using symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Example:

Common Symbols in Literature

Black: death, depression, loneliness, evil                     Night: mystery, fear, death      Apple: temptation

Doves: Peace          Spring: Birth; youth                       Winter: Old age; death             Eagle: Freedom

Skull: Death           Cross Bones: Danger; Death         Water: Birth; life                        Rose: Love; beauty

Crown: Royalty     Ring: Love; unity                             Circle: Unending; life                Sunrise: birth; new starts

Fire: Rage              Storms: Danger                               Passing Storm: new start          Keys: discovery; mystery

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• Imagery:

Definition:  Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

Example: There are five main types of imagery, each related to one of the human senses:

• Visual imagery (sight) - "The sun was a blazing inferno in the sky"

• Auditory imagery (hearing) - "The sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the air"

• Olfactory imagery (smell) - "The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air",

• Gustatory imagery (taste) - "The taste of her tears was salty and bitter"

• Tactile imagery (touch) - "The rough bark of the tree scraped against my skin"